The Lenovo Flex 5 16 is a versatile choice for everyday use, with its 2-in-1 convertible design allowing use as a laptop or tablet, generally with longer battery life, and at a somewhat lower price. It supports general productivity with decent performance, but it isn’t designed for heavy graphics tasks. On the other hand, the Lenovo Legion 5 15" is more expensive but offers significantly better performance for 3D, machine learning, and gaming, thanks to its advanced graphics capabilities. It has a higher refresh rate screen which is great for gaming but is also heavier and possibly with a shorter battery life, reducing portability for on-the-go use. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Lenovo Flex 5 16
Good portability
Very good battery life
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion 5 15"
Very good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Very good overall display quality
Good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
Gaming and AI
6.2/10
7.9/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.5/10
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
7.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" is good for gaming and AI, while the Lenovo Flex 5 16 is only fair.
The Lenovo Flex 5 16 is less suited for gaming and 3D because it uses an integrated GPU and a lower refresh rate, which can limit graphic performance and responsiveness compared to the Lenovo Legion 5 15", which comes equipped with a more powerful dedicated Nvidia RTX GPU and a higher refresh rate, enhancing gameplay and 3D application performance.
Engineering and Design
7.2/10
8.2/10
6.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.0/10
3.7/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.5/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" is very good for engineering and design, while the Lenovo Flex 5 16 is good.
The Lenovo Legion 5 15", with its AMD Ryzen 7 processor and Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU, provides stronger performance capabilities for engineering and design tasks than the Lenovo Flex 5 16, which has an Intel i7 processor with integrated graphics.
Screen Quality
7.3/10
8.0/10
16.0in
SIZE
15.6in
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
400.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
The Lenovo Flex 5 16 has a better screen than the Lenovo Legion 5 15" for software development, while the Lenovo Legion 5 15" has a better screen for general use, gaming and AI, and engineering and design.
The Lenovo Flex 5 16's screen provides a balance between resolution and brightness that suits everyday tasks and media consumption, but its refresh rate and potential color gamut limitations may not satisfy the demands of high-frame-rate gaming or the precision needed for color grading in engineering and design. The Lenovo Legion 5 15", while offering a more vibrant and higher resolution display, could be preferable for engineering and design work due to more accurate color representation, yet like the Flex, it falls short for gaming due to a refresh rate that doesn't match the needs of fast-paced games. Neither laptop hits the mark for 3D gaming where a high refresh rate is crucial to keep up with rapid movements and provide a smoother visual experience.
Battery
11.5 Hours
4.0 Hours
The Lenovo Flex 5 16 has 11.5 hours of battery life. The Lenovo Legion 5 15" has 4 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Good
Fair
16.0in
SIZE
15.6in
4.6 lbs
WEIGHT
5.3 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Lenovo Flex 5 16 has good portability, while the Lenovo Legion 5 15" has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.0/10
7.6/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" and Lenovo Flex 5 16 both have good build quality, though the Lenovo Legion 5 15" has somewhat better build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$779
$999
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
$1,400
$1,600
The Lenovo Flex 5 16 has a price of $779 and the Lenovo Legion 5 15" costs $999.
The Lenovo Flex 5 16 and Lenovo Legion 5 15" are both good for general use.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Content Creation
7.6/10
7.4/10
6.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.0/10
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Lenovo Flex 5 16 and Lenovo Legion 5 15" are both good for content creation.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
7.5/10
7.3/10
6.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.0/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Lenovo Flex 5 16 and Lenovo Legion 5 15" are both good for software development.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
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How the Lenovo Flex 5 16 and the Lenovo Legion 5 15" compare to other laptops
"The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 is a solidly equipped, 2-in-1 in the lower price segment. Performance is definitely sufficient for everyday tasks and in tests the battery proved itself to be very economical. That aside, there is a lot of standard fare on show and a search for real highlights ends in vain. The low color coverage and reflective display can be avoided by going for an optional 2.5K display but this also presumably results in poorer battery life. The cooling uses only one fan and leads to a raised temperature on one side of the device under load. Additionally, there is very loud fan noise, also under load or when gaming. On top of that, we also occasionally noticed electronic noises."
"The Lenovo Legion 5 15 is an affordable gaming laptop with a lot of power. The new AMD processor Ryzen 7 5800H offers plenty of performance and it is also very efficient. The combination with the fast 130W version of the GeForce RTX 3060 ensures high gaming performance. We also like the fast 165 Hz display with the 1080p resolution. The automatic graphics switching causes some problems with stutters, which are very annoying. If you do not need long battery runtimes, you should definitely deactivate the hybrid graphics mode in Lenovo's Vantage app. The Legion 5 15 is never silent."
Get a great deal on the Lenovo Flex 5 16 or the Lenovo Legion 5 15"
About Lenovo
Lenovo is a Chinese technology company, and one of the largest personal computer vendor. They are well known for a variety of technology products, including laptops. Their consumer series include their entry level IdeaPad and LOQ series and mid-to-high-end Yoga and Legion series. On the business-oriented side, their series include their entry-level ThinkBook series and mid-to-high-end ThinkPad series. Lenovo laptops offer strong performance for reasonable prices, and are often on sale.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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